YOU COULD SAY THAT KARRIE WEBB, 39, is already having a great year. Or at least a very good one. And it's still March.
Webb has two early wins, bringing her LPGA career total to 41. Webb was a topic of interest during a Golf Channel media conference call on Tuesday with lead analyst Judy Rankin and on-course reporter and LPGA player Karen Stupples.
Rankin and Stupples previewed the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major of the 2014 season. They expect Webb to be in the mix and talked about why the Aussie continues to play well and win.
Source: Golf Channel Analyst Judy Rankin Talks Up Karrie Webb
Webb has two early wins, bringing her LPGA career total to 41. Webb was a topic of interest during a Golf Channel media conference call on Tuesday with lead analyst Judy Rankin and on-course reporter and LPGA player Karen Stupples.
Rankin and Stupples previewed the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major of the 2014 season. They expect Webb to be in the mix and talked about why the Aussie continues to play well and win.
JUDY RANKIN: I can tell you we are all kind of fascinated with how well Karrie Webb is playing this year; two wins already, and she has two wins to her credit there at Mission Hills.
I cannot believe she is not going to be part of the conversation, which I think is really interesting because there is the excellent chance we're going to have a number of teenagers as part of the conversation.
Q. I think at the beginning of the year we would have looked at the two names you mentioned, Inbee Park and Suzann Pettersen having to eventually win at this tournament, but Karrie Webb has kind of taken over and she's a two time winner at this tournament. What is it about maybe both her game here and her game away from here that has allowed her to continue to be such a force on the Tour for so long?
KAREN STUPPLES: It's an interesting question, and it was something that I wanted to actually ask Karrie last week. But I spoke to her caddie, Mikey, and I asked him that very question. What is it that keeps her going? And he said, it's the winning. She just loves to win, and she wants to win. He says that's really all she's out there for now is just to keep winning.
JUDY RANKIN: I look to some of the really great players in the game, and one thing is different about a handful of players, which is they both take great pleasure in being in the heat of the competition and winning or trying to win, but they also take great pleasure in doing it well. And Karrie is one of those people who gets a lot of satisfaction out of doing it well, and I think that's one thing that has kept her going for a very long time. She just happens right now to be doing it as well as she has done it in the last five or six years.
KAREN STUPPLES: To me as a player it's amazing to watch her because the longevity of her career has been tremendous. She's played at such a high level for such a long time. There has been no burnout, she just keeps on playing, and to me as a player that's something that's phenomenal.
JUDY RANKIN: And the other thing which is evident with so many players, she has, to my knowledge anyway, never suffered a serious injury, and that really does keep people going in a different way than people who are sort of always hampered by things.
KAREN STUPPLES: When I watch her practice and watch her play, she seems to do it in a very sort of constructive, measured manner. She gets the most out of what she puts in, and she's obviously very experienced with that, so I think that helps, too. But you're right, the lack of injury really helps.
I cannot believe she is not going to be part of the conversation, which I think is really interesting because there is the excellent chance we're going to have a number of teenagers as part of the conversation.
Q. I think at the beginning of the year we would have looked at the two names you mentioned, Inbee Park and Suzann Pettersen having to eventually win at this tournament, but Karrie Webb has kind of taken over and she's a two time winner at this tournament. What is it about maybe both her game here and her game away from here that has allowed her to continue to be such a force on the Tour for so long?
KAREN STUPPLES: It's an interesting question, and it was something that I wanted to actually ask Karrie last week. But I spoke to her caddie, Mikey, and I asked him that very question. What is it that keeps her going? And he said, it's the winning. She just loves to win, and she wants to win. He says that's really all she's out there for now is just to keep winning.
JUDY RANKIN: I look to some of the really great players in the game, and one thing is different about a handful of players, which is they both take great pleasure in being in the heat of the competition and winning or trying to win, but they also take great pleasure in doing it well. And Karrie is one of those people who gets a lot of satisfaction out of doing it well, and I think that's one thing that has kept her going for a very long time. She just happens right now to be doing it as well as she has done it in the last five or six years.
KAREN STUPPLES: To me as a player it's amazing to watch her because the longevity of her career has been tremendous. She's played at such a high level for such a long time. There has been no burnout, she just keeps on playing, and to me as a player that's something that's phenomenal.
JUDY RANKIN: And the other thing which is evident with so many players, she has, to my knowledge anyway, never suffered a serious injury, and that really does keep people going in a different way than people who are sort of always hampered by things.
KAREN STUPPLES: When I watch her practice and watch her play, she seems to do it in a very sort of constructive, measured manner. She gets the most out of what she puts in, and she's obviously very experienced with that, so I think that helps, too. But you're right, the lack of injury really helps.
Source: Golf Channel Analyst Judy Rankin Talks Up Karrie Webb